The Keeper: Part II (LiS episode)
Last week, as you recall, Dr. Smith and the Robot had waited in hiding for the alien known as the Keeper to leave his giant spaceship. A spaceship filled with hundreds of caged animals gathered from every corner of the universe. The nefarious Dr. Smith now plans to steal the monstrous space vehicle and return with it to Earth. Summary Having released all of the animals, Smith and the Robot make a perilous journey back to the ship. The Robinsons don't understand why the Keeper let his animals out, but they learn the truth when the alien comes to their ship and he tests them for a guilty conscience. Smith blubbers that he did it for the Robinsons, and that the Keeper would take them off the planet rather than leave them at the animals' mercy. The Keeper says he will leave the animals loose until the Robinsons turn over Will and Penny. The Keeper speaks with his superior, who cautions against the loss of valuable rare species versus the value of the Earth children. The Keeper tries to summon the children with his staff, but they are locked up in the Jupiter 2 until Will gets the Robot to unlock the door. A slingshot Will just made is used by Don to smash the top off the Keeper's staff, releasing the children from the summoning effect. John and Maureen agree to go to the Keeper and offer themselves in place of their children - "We've lived full lives - theirs have hardly begun." Don and Judy have a similar idea. The Keeper is somewhat intrigued by their point that they'd be less troublesome than the children, but the Keeper points out that they are more accustomed to freedom than the children - Will and Penny would be more pliable to a change from freedom to confinement. Before leaving the Keeper's ship, John throws the Keeper's unattended staff to the floor, and it drains. When the Keeper finds it, unknown to him, the forcefield over the enclosure of a particularly vile creature has been shut off and it attacks the Keeper. John has gone to find Will and Penny using the jet pack, Don and Judy are also searching, and Maureen returns to the Keeper's ship to see if they're there; Maureen finds the Keeper on the floor and helps him up; the Keeper is amazed at the compassion shown to him by creatures he had threatened and made demands upon. The Keeper recharges his staff and sets off with Maureen to find the children. They all meet up at the Chariot, which is under attack by the vile creature that had attacked the Keeper, and which is resistant to the charges John is throwing at it. Don, Judy, Will, Penny and Smith are trapped in the Chariot underneath the creature. The Keeper calls off the creature, and watches, with some relief, as Maureen and John help the rest out of the temporarily disabled chariot. The next morning, Will reports on the quiet outside: the Keeper has called in all his creatures. The others find it incredible, when the Keeper projects himself to the campsite. He says Will is correct, that no other creature has caused him so much trouble, and that in punishment, the Keeper has left one creature. A snarl gets them out to hunt the creature... only to find one of the Keeper's cages with a potentially vicious but more often troublesome creature in it. Background information * Although the first part of this story uses an Arabic number, the second uses a Roman number in the title. * Along with "Return from Outer Space" and "The Keeper: Part 1", this is one of Bill Mumy's three favorite episodes. http://lismemories.com/lis/show/episodes/Season_One/returnfromos/ * The scenes with the giant spider and Professor Robinson attempting to blast it with rifle and grenades were judged too terrifying in the original release and partially cut! The giant spider prop had been seen in an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV show). * The cage which the Keeper leaves Dr Smith in at the end of this episode is kept by the Robinsons and-in a great example of continuity- used later to try and trap the invisible Bog Monster in 'The Space Creature'. (This is one of the few example where the show doesn't pull strange equipment out of thin air- despite it being sorely needed in some episodes by the Robinsons! Case in point- the Space Pod). Links and references Starring *Guy Williams as Dr. John Robinson *June Lockhart as Maureen Robinson Co-starring *Mark Goddard as Don West *Marta Kristen as Judy Robinson *Bill Mumy as Will Robinson *Angela Cartwright as Penny Robinson Special guest star *Jonathan Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith Guest star *Michael Rennie as The Keeper Uncredited co-stars (alphabetical) *Mike Donovan as the Hairy Monster *Wilbur Evans as the Lighted Head Leader *Bob May as the The Robot *Dick Tufeld as the The Robot (voice) *unknown performer as the Cyclops *unknown performer as the Rubberoid References External links * The Keeper: Part II at the Internet Movie Database Category:Lost in Space episodes